Eau Gallie River

As mentioned the other day, our anchorage by Dragon’s Point was quite exposed to the north winds this area has been experiencing. For this reason, and also for some variety, we decided to up anchor and move the short distance across the Indian River to anchor in the small Eau Gallie River. This anchorage is quite a bit more protected from the blowing winds but it is quite shallow outside the marked channel. We had also read on Active Captain that the bottom of the river is very soft and may not have such great holding. After a bit of motoring around, carefully sounding the depths, we found a place that looked like we could work with. Our Rocna anchor was set and bit well as expected, leaving us swinging with about 6″ to 18″ under our keels. It was our understanding that there isn’t a great amount of tide here but even so, that is still fairly shallow. To stop us from swinging closer to shore where perhaps, there would be too little water, we elected to try our hand at setting a stern anchor. On one other occasion we attempted to do this but we couldn’t get the anchor to set. Fortunately, this time we had much better success. Our Fortress anchor was assembled and I rowed it out away from our stern in our dinghy while Rebecca stayed on board ZTC and payed out the rode. After what we guessed was a sufficient amount of scope had been set, she made the rode fast to a winch and then snugged it up. I am happy to report that our plan was successful and even when the winds picked up yesterday, blowing onto our beam, our position remained constant, keeping us from bumping on the shallower areas around us.

Perhaps not “the” way to do this but it worked.

Although our traveling companions on Knot Tide Down were gone, before they left they made us aware that the house that they still own backs onto this river. Bill and Ana no longer live in the house but their son Tyler does along with another young couple, Zack, who we had already met and his wife Amber. It was suggested that we dinghy over and visit them so after scoping the location out by closely zooming in on Google Maps, Rebecca and I set off in the dinghy to find the place. It was during this first trip that we were able to get a close up view of another PDQ 32 tied to a dock in this river. If the owner of Dog House is reading this, we’d love to meet up with you.

What an awesome house!

We love finding other PDQ 32s in our travels.

We were happy to find that both Zack and Amber were home when we arrived (we were able to dinghy right up to the dock at the back of their house) and they were kind enough to invite us back for a bonfire later that evening. That was a fun way to spend a chilly evening.

A nice big fire to keep us warm.

Good thing there was a firefighter in the house, just in case!

How appropriate was it that we ended up playing the game “Ring of Fire.”

Our time at anchor has been well spent with ZTC receiving a thorough scrubbing, both inside and out. Sadly the water line of our boat has not been cleaned in too long a period and the scum built up on it was truly disgusting. Although our friends back home may be using this tool for its intended use, we broke out one of the two ice scrapers that we brought on board (thanks for that tip, Jeff) to scrape some of the crap off the boats waterline. That, along with a brush and some of the super-strong On and Off – Hull and Bottom cleaner (diluted, in a spray bottle), made short work of the project. I am happy to report that ZTC is almost back to her shiny self.

Giving ZTC a much needed cleaning. Rebecca was on deck polishing the stainless.

Ummm, yuck!

We were happy to have another of our blog readers drop in to visit us yesterday. This time Terry, who hails from Alaska, sent us an email to let us know that he was in the area and would like to get togther. Terry was visiting a friend Mike, who now lives in Vero Beach, about a day’s sail from here. Because I told Terry that it would be unlikely that we’d be going right into Vero, they decided to pop in the car and drive up to see us. They arrived at about 11:00 AM yesterday and I picked them up in our dinghy at the nearby beach. Terry’s friend Mike has sailed all over the Caribbean so it was a great start to our day to spend a few hours chatting with them. Thanks very much for following along on our blog guys and coming to visit. We really do appreciate it!

Mike and Terry. Thanks for visiting guys.